STOCKTON - A 16-year-old convicted murderer will spend 21 years in prison for shooting a homeless man to death because the teen wanted to see if he had the guts to kill.

Deantre Darnell Crawford was 14 years old when he took the life of 38-year-old Francisco Victor Menesses, who was on his way back to a homeless encampment from a nearby store.

Stockton police were dispatched to Lincoln and Worth streets about 4:30 p.m. Sept. 9, 2011. The area is known to those who inhabit it as "the jungle."

Officer Bradfor Delk testified in a preliminary hearing to being flagged down to the nearby railroad tracks under an Interstate 5 bridge. "I wound up finding a body lying there," he said.

Menesses was last seen alive riding a low-rider style beach cruiser bicycle away from Ben's Market, where he had just purchased a bag of ice, according to court documents.

When Menesses' body was found in bushes, the bicycle, which belonged to his girlfriend's son, was missing, court documents say. The ice bag had melted. Menesses lived with his girlfriend in a tent just 20 to 30 feet from the crime scene.

For a few weeks, investigators had no eye witnesses and limited surveillance footage.

But thanks to Crawford spreading his story among peers, there was a break in the case.

Crawford was doing community service for a juvenile offense and during a work assignment chatted with fellow juveniles.

One, who was 17 years old at the time, came forward.

During community service, Crawford rapped and sang songs about guns, the witness testified.

"He said he had a .22. He talked a lot about that. Mostly about that," the witness said. "We were picking up trash in the parking lot and he told me that he used it against somebody and he shot somebody.

"He indicated killing animals and stuff before. But he told me he saw this guy walking with a beach cruiser bike and he shot him once ... he said he saw the guy, like, crumpled, and like, and then, he came up and shot the guy a second time."

Crawford told him that he then took the bike home. Crawford was bragging about the crimes, the witness said.

Crawford's exact words, according the witness: "I wanted to see if I had the guts to do it."

Medical examiners determined Menesses died of two fatal gunshot wounds to his upper right back. The victim had cirrhosis of the liver, and examiners found drugs in his system that included morphine and methadone. But neither of those factors contributed to his death.

Crawford, charged as an adult, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and admitted to firearm enhancements in a deal with prosecutors. Theft charges were dismissed.

Crawford was sentenced June 25 to the maximum term of 11 years in state prison for voluntary manslaughter and 10 more years for three enhancements.